Hat crown stay



March 6, 1951 T. E. KNUDSON 2,543,855

HAT CROWN STAY Filed July 19, 194'? gwuam to o THOMAS E. KNUDSQNPatented Mar. 6, 1951 UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE Claims.

This invention relates to a hat crown brace and is adapted to hold thecrown of a hat in position.

It is a general object of the invention to provide a brace for theforward and upper portions of a hat crown and is particularly suited foruse with a mans felt or soft straw hat. The device is one which is lightin structure and which can be readily adjusted to fit compactly andunnoticeably in a hat to retain it in the position desired.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will morefully appear from the, following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to thesame parts throughout the views, and, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the device showing it in two positions infull and dotted lines;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a view showing a portion of a hat in vertical section withthe brace installed therein;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the brace; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side detail of the structure ofFigure 4.

In Figures 1 through 3 there is shown a brace structure including a bodyplate 6 having angularly bent upper and lower end portions 1 which atspaced points are provided with apertures 8.

Extending through diagonally opposite pairs of apertures 8 are wire arms9 which are connected at their lower ends by a slight arcuate wire baseportion ill. The arms 9 extend upwardly through the upper apertures 8 inthe body plate 6 and said arms diverge and are provided at their upperends with depth limiting stops such as loops H and pointed ends orprongs l2.

It will be seen in Figure 1 that the wires 9 can ing the upper forwardcrown portion with his be slid through the apertures 8 in the body plate6,

thereby causing the wires to extend a greater or less diagonal above theplate 6 and at the same time varying the spaced relationship of thepointed upper ends or prongs l2 of the wire arms.

When installing in a relatively low crowned hat the plate 6 may beshifted to a position similar to that shown in dotted lines in Figure 1,while for a higher crown it may be more or less in the position shown infull lines. When the proper height adjustment of the plate 6 and arms 9is made the arms at their upper ends above the plate 6 are bent as shownin Figures 2 and 3 so that they will extend rearwardly as well asupwardly in the hat.

The cross member ID or base of the Wire portion is shown in Figure 3 tofit between the hat sweat band I 3 and lower crown portion indicatedgenerally at M. When it is placed in this position and the prongs [2 areanchored in the hat crown the device will remain firmly in position. Itwill prevent the crown from collapsing or being pinched to a point atthe forward upper end, such as commonly occurs when the wearer of thehat removes it and replaces it upon his head by graspfingers.

In Figures 4 and 5 there is shown a modified construction wherein thereis a body plate l5 having rolled side portions or flanges l6 which areprovided with apertures ll to receive wire arms l8 in generally the samemanner as the arms 9 described above. This may be a more rigid. form ofconstruction, particularly when the body plate [5 is made of anextremely light material.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made inthe form, details, arrangement and proportions of the various partswithout departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A hat crown brace comprising a base portion, a pair of arms extendingupwardly from said base portion and having crossed portions disposed ina criss-cross relationship and having diverging upper hat crown engagingends, and an arm connecting plate associated with said arms above saidbase portion and through which said crossed portions slidably extend topermit adjustability in the divergence of the hat crown engaging ends ofsaid arms through raising and lowering of said connecting plate relativeto the arms.

2. The structure defined in claim 1', the ex treme hat crown engagingends of said arms being pronged and said arms below said prongedportions being shaped to form depth limiting stops for the prongs.

3. A hat crown brace comprising a base portion, a pair of arms extendingupwardly from said base portion and having crossed portions disposed ina criss-cross relationship and having diverging upper hat crown engagingends, and an arm connecting plate associated with said arms above saidbase portion and having flanges through which said crossed portionsslidably extend to permit adjustability in thedivergence of the hatcrown engaging ends of said arms through raising and lowering of saidconnecting plate relative to the arms.

4. The structure defined in claim 3, said flanges being formed on thetop and bottom edges of said plate.

5. The structure defined in claim 3, said flanges being formed at thesides of said plate.

THOMAS E. KNUDSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,341,679 Rosemire June 1, 19201,696,047 Martin Dec. 18, 1928 2,038,828 Conley Apr. 28, 1936 2,350,728Conley June 6, 1944

